Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market Street, 5th floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
School of Economics, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, LeBow Hall, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
J Urban Health. 2017 Aug;94(4):494-505. doi: 10.1007/s11524-017-0168-8.
This paper evaluates variation in food prices within and between neighborhoods to improve our understanding of access to healthy foods in urbanized areas and potential economic incentives and barriers to consuming a higher-quality diet. Prices of a selection of healthier foods (dairy, fruit juice, and frozen vegetables) and unhealthy foods (soda, sweets, and salty snacks) were obtained from 1953 supermarkets across the USA during 2009-2012 and were linked to census block group socio-demographics. Analyses evaluated associations between neighborhood SES and proportion Black/Hispanic and the prices of healthier and unhealthy foods, and the relative price of healthier foods compared with unhealthy foods (healthy-to-unhealthy price ratio). Linear hierarchical regression models were used to explore geospatial variation and adjust for confounders. Overall, the price of healthier foods was nearly twice as high as the price of unhealthy foods ($0.590 vs $0.298 per serving; healthy-to-unhealthy price ratio of 1.99). This trend was consistent across all neighborhood characteristics. After adjusting for covariates, no association was found between food prices (healthy, unhealthy, or the healthy-to-unhealthy ratio) and neighborhood SES. Similarly, there was no association between the proportion Black/Hispanic and healthier food price, a very small positive association with unhealthy price, and a modest negative association with the healthy-to-unhealthy ratio. No major differences were seen in food prices across levels of neighborhood SES and proportion Black/Hispanic; however, the price of healthier food was twice as expensive as unhealthy food per serving on average.
本研究评估了不同社区内部和之间的食品价格差异，以增进我们对城市地区获取健康食品的理解，并探讨潜在的经济激励因素和障碍，以促进人们选择更高质量的饮食。我们于 2009-2012 年期间从美国各地的 1953 家超市获取了一系列更健康食品（乳制品、果汁和冷冻蔬菜）和不健康食品（苏打水、糖果和咸味小吃）的价格，并将其与普查区社会人口统计学数据相关联。分析评估了社区社会经济地位（SES）与黑人和/或西班牙裔比例与更健康和不健康食品价格之间的关联，以及更健康食品与不健康食品的相对价格（健康食品与不健康食品价格比）。我们采用线性分层回归模型来探索地理空间差异，并调整混杂因素。总体而言，更健康食品的价格几乎是不健康食品的两倍（每份 0.590 美元对 0.298 美元；健康食品与不健康食品的价格比为 1.99）。这一趋势在所有社区特征中均保持一致。在调整了协变量后，食物价格（健康、不健康或健康与不健康的比值）与社区 SES 之间没有关联。同样，黑人和/或西班牙裔比例与更健康食品价格之间也没有关联，与不健康食品价格呈非常小的正相关，与健康食品与不健康食品的比值呈适度负相关。在社区 SES 水平和黑人和/或西班牙裔比例方面，食物价格没有明显差异；然而，平均而言，每份更健康食品的价格是不健康食品的两倍。
